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Trees Were the Biggest Climate Story of 2023
Humans have a natural inclination toward trees, and to telling stories about them. Norse mythology tells the story of Yggrasil, the world tree, upon which all the realms sit. The Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree, and its descendant has become a major pilgrimage site. Richard Powers’ Pulitzer-winning book The Overstory — itself structured in sections named after the parts of a tree — is filled with people who plant, live in, and commune with megaflora. This year we at Heatmap heard and told stories about trees, too, and if there’s one overarching theme it’s this: Trees, like...
The Most Cinematic Climate Stories of 2023
People love to complain about how there aren’t enough good movies that deal with climate change, and that the ones that do all focus on disasters without giving us any reason for hope. They aren’t wrong. The two most famous climate-themed movies ever made are probably The Day After Tomorrow, a movie about climate change triggering an ice age, and Don’t Look Up, an allegory about a world-ending asteroid that doesn’t even mention the warming planet directly. Researchers at the University of Southern California recently analyzed nearly 40,000 scripts from 2016 through 2020, scouring the text for 36 climate keywords, and...
You Can Score an Outstanding EV for Just $12,000
Growing up, I begrudgingly attended the annual Father’s Day car show on our local Main Street. My dad liked to spend the morning ogling muscle cars and chatting up their often tattooed or bearded owners. I tried my best to feign interest, but as much as I love my dad, I just couldn’t get excited about cars. I don’t think he passed along the “car guy” gene to me. At least that’s what I thought until about a month ago. I’m now the proud new owner of a (used) 2020 Chevy Bolt Premier, and I’m ready to talk about it...
The Year States Passed on Gas
One of the biggest climate stories of the year — the first, and perhaps only, to go viral — didn’t so much draw attention to the warming planet as it did to the dangers of using fossil fuels. During the second week of January, Bloomberg reported that a federal safety agency would “consider a ban on gas stoves amid health fears.” Though the headline was somewhat misleading — the commission was investigating the risks of cooking with gas, but a ban was not immediately forthcoming — the article invited swift backlash.The next day, the Wall Street Journal editorial board...
AM Briefing: Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Finally Unveiled
Current conditions: Temperatures are about 30 degrees higher in the Plains and Midwest than what’s seasonally normal • Northern Vietnam is enduring a severe cold spell • High winds from Storm Pia helped the U.K. set a new record for wind energy generation in just 30 minutes. THE TOP FIVE1. Biden unveils long-awaited hydrogen tax credit rules The Biden administration today unveiled strict rules governing the tax credits for clean hydrogen production, reports Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer. Hydrogen produces no climate pollution when burned, and could potentially replace fossil fuels in many sectors if scaled up responsibly. Under the Inflation Reduction Act,...
Biden’s New Hydrogen Rules Are Here. They’re Way Bigger Than Hydrogen.
The most generous, lucrative, and all-around lavish subsidy in President Joe Biden’s climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is the new tax credit for clean hydrogen production. Under the policy, a company can get a bounty of up to $3 for each kilogram of hydrogen made with clean electricity that it produces and sells. There are few legal limits to what a company can earn.So it figures, then, that this subsidy has been the subject of maybe the most acrimonious, dramatic, hair-tearing fight over the law so far, one that saw snoozy lobbyists and power plant operators take out...
American Fuel Economy Just Hit a Record, Thanks to EVs and Hybrids
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is out with its annual Automotive Trends Report for 2022 model-year vehicles, and the numbers are some of the best it’s seen. Average emissions are at a record low and fuel economy is at a record high — and according to preliminary 2023-model-year data, those trends will continue into the new year.Overall, the EPA says average real-world CO2 emissions for new vehicles sold in 2022 dropped by 10 grams of carbon dioxide per mile for an average of 337 g/mile, the lowest the agency has recorded. On the other side, fuel economy averages are...
Scientists Are Coming Around on Geoengineering
Katherine Ricke, a University of California at San Diego sustainability professor, turned to face the roomful of attentive scientists at the American Geophysical Union a few weeks ago. In any other year, she would have been about to break one of climate science’s biggest taboos. “Geoscientists know very well at this point that solar geoengineering is not a very good substitute for emissions reductions,” she said. “The question that comes next, then, is, Is solar geoengineering a complement to mitigation?” The answer, she then argued, was yes. While cutting greenhouse gas emissions might bring down the planet’s temperature in the long...
U.S. Battery Production Is Going Great, Actually
Back in April, the Environmental Protection Agency announced new vehicle emissions standards that seem poised to transform how our roads look. They’re so strict, according to NPR, that up to 67% of new vehicles sold in 2032 would have to be electric to meet them. Immediately, it looked like that would be a problem. The Inflation Reduction Act stipulates that, in order to be eligible for tax credits, electric vehicle components — including, crucially, the batteries — can’t be made by a country on the U.S.’s “foreign entities of concern” list. That rules out batteries made in China, which is,...
AM Briefing: Insects in Decline
Current conditions: Southern California remains at risk of flooding and may even see some waterspouts or tornadoes • A wildfire is burning out of control in Perth, in Australia • It's the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. THE TOP FIVE 1. U.S. may hike tariffs on Chinese EVs The Biden administration is reportedly considering raising tariffs on electric vehicles made in China, which tend to run cheaper than those made in the U.S. The move would be an attempt to “bolster the U.S. clean energy industry,” explains The Wall Street Journal. Chinese EVs are already subject to...
Poll: The Americans Who Worry Least About Climate Change
When Canadian wildfire smoke descended on my hometown in Indiana this summer, I was distraught. I live in London now, but much of my family remains in the Midwest, and as an orange haze blanketed the landscape and the air quality plummeted, I worried about their health. “Smoke everywhere!” my dad texted, alongside a photo of the fields near my childhood home, shrouded in smog. “Guess I better stay inside when I get home.” The effects of climate change will vary from region to region, but everyone’s life will be affected in some way, eventually. Even though I know this...
AM Briefing: Bird Files for Bankruptcy
Current conditions: Southern California is bracing for heavy rain • China's bitter cold is complicating earthquake rescue efforts • Iceland's capital of Reykjavik could be hit by pollution from a volcanic eruption.THE TOP FIVE1. E-scooter company Bird files for bankruptcyE-scooter company Bird, which “put electric scooters onto the sidewalks of major cities,” is filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. Just five years ago the company reached “unicorn” status with a $1 billion valuation faster than any startup ever before. But “Bird grew too quickly — it launched in too many cities before it had a viable model,” one former...
How the Heat Dome Stole Christmas
I’m not normally concerned about having the perfect home — though I’m also not normally interviewing Mr. Christmas Tree himself from my living room, with a scraggly, disco-lit Nordmann fir in the background of my Zoom shot.A high-quality tree should have “up-turning branches, so they’re not drooping,” he was telling me. “They have really nice dark green needles” and “what I would consider to be a uniform density, all the way to the top of the tree.” As he talked, my eyes slid to the corner of my computer screen, where I noticed that the topper on my rather...
Nikola Founder Trevor Milton Gets Similar Prison Sentence to Defrauder of Holocaust Victim
Yesterday, a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced Nikola founder Trevor Milton to four years in prison for lying to his investors about his electric truck startup’s prospects and progress. Last year, a jury found Milton guilty on one count of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud.Prosecutors had asked for an 11-year prison term and a $5 million fine. While Milton will be required to pay a $1 million fine, plus an amount of restitution to be determined later, the judge in the case, Edgardo Ramos, said he took to heart the letters he'd received from Milton’s friends...
What Two Record-Breaking Floods Taught Vermont
There’s a brook that runs along the Mountain Home Park in Brattleboro, Vermont, providing the sort of pleasant babbling sound people play at night to help them fall asleep. On a typical morning, the water moves quickly and is shallow enough that you can see the rocks under the surface. But when a storm comes through, long-time resident Angela Johnson warns, this steady stream can turn treacherous.“We watch it every day when it’s raining — it doesn’t matter if it’s a heavy storm, the brook rises quite quickly,” Johnson told me. “It has and it will continue to break...
AM Briefing: 2035 or Bust
Current conditions: A volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula has finally started to erupt • At least 120 people were killed in an earthquake in China • Meteorologists say Americans on the East Coast hoping for snow in January should keep “expectations in check.”THE TOP FIVE1. Some EU countries pledge to decarbonize power systems by 2035A handful of countries within the European Union have pledged to decarbonize their power systems by 2035. The group includes France and Germany, the two biggest power producers in Europe. They’re joined in the commitment by the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, which is...
The Next Front in Climate Activism Is De-Privatizing Utilities
Voters in Maine were confronted with an unusual decision when they went to the polls this November. Question three on the ballot asked Mainers if they wanted to eliminate the two private utilities that delivered electricity to 97% of the state. A new, nonprofit utility called Pine Tree Power would take over the service, and it would be overseen by a publicly-elected board.Though the proposal may sound radical, it’s not unheard of. Since the dawn of the electric grid, communities have periodically decided to municipalize their utilities. The city of Sacramento, California, took over PG&E’s local electric distribution franchise...
AM Briefing: A Combustion-Engine Crackdown
Current conditions: More than 130,000 people on the East Coast are without power after a weekend storm • Freakishly strong winds killed at least 13 people in Argentina • China’s deep freeze continues to defy forecasters’ expectations. THE TOP FIVE1. Australia’s Queensland flooded by lingering tropical storm The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jasper brought intense rain and flooding to several towns in Australia’s northeastern region of Queensland. About 24 inches of rain fell on the city of Cairns in a span of 40 hours, which is more than triple the December average, according to Reuters. At least 12,000 people are without...
A House in the Sierra Nevadas Built to Withstand Both Fire and Ice
Faulkner Architects have practiced from Truckee, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range for 35 years. The firm’s particular approach to design takes inspiration from founder Greg Faulkner’s former work in aircraft design. “Precision is one of the things we’re about,” Faulkner told me. “I was part of the wing group at Cessna. I drew — by hand — the wings and all the parts that make up a wing for the Citation III, the first intercontinental business jet with a low swept wing.” (A low swept wing improves aerodynamic performance.) Translated to architecture, Faulkner thinks about precision in the...
Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Want Climate Change Taught In Schools
When I was in high school, I had to memorize the entire taxonomic hierarchy of the American moose. But I never learned about greenhouse gases. This never struck me as odd until I read a recent op-ed in The Boston Globe by Anita Soracco, a professor of physics and environmental science at Massachusetts’ Quinsigamond Community College. “Over the past 13 years,” she wrote, “my students have consistently expressed disappointment and dismay that they hadn’t previously been taught about the climate crisis or the many environmental justice issues that plague their communities as a result.” What’s perhaps even more dismaying is that...
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